Who's Online Feature - Love it or Hate it?

Well, let's hear it - should it stay or should it go "bye-bye"? I'll go with whatever group gives the strongest case.

Dave

Just discovered it,lol' I can live with it or without it,no matter to me' Sis'

no going to vote, it's probably something I wouldn't use. I can usually tell who's on by their posting.

Think its great.
Why would anyone want to hide?

Well since I was the one who asked for this feature, I must say that I LOVE IT!! I think it is a cool feature that should stay! Some folks say they don't want to be seen here...what is the point? I mean yea you post on each thread and you click on send, that in itself means you are here~~ so why hide?? If you think that folks will wonder why you stay here all day long, because they "see" you are online, well if they really wanted to rag you about it they could simply "see" all your post and tell that you were here all day!
I for one say LEAVE it!!

My thoughts exactly Paul!

Just curious Dave' Can a member just keep voting and voting or is there a monitor as to 1 vote per customer,so to speak?

Is it like polls,say on the telephone,just keep redialing to vote?

No, Sis, the pollbooth is programmed to only allow one vote per member, so if you vote more than once, it overrides your previous vote.

Dave

I LUV it! I could live without it too!
The reason i luv it is-maybe i wanted to email and ask you a question-quickly. I could see if you are online and i should wait for a reply or maybe even ask someone else that was online. I would know not to wait for a reply-go out in the garden Dori and do something! ;]
I dont think I will be checking it to see whos on all the time-I have a hard enough time just trying to read "most" of the post-never reading all!
If this gets tossed in the compost pile-I have Aol instant messenger and would luv to add you to my Buddy list-even if it stays I would luv to add you. Email me your buddy name.
dori (:-}

I love it in fact just used it.... found out notmartha was on line then signed into my AOL instant messanger to chat... I too would love to know if anyone else has AOL or MSN instant messanger I have both
AOL id= sandy4k
MSN id= frosty_87

Old Rose, I too have AOL and AIM. I think it would be neat to have IM with friends here, that way we can even discuss a recent post or ask further questions about something related to a post or a trade. Good Idea!

Gee, i didn't know this was even on here...It is great...I think it is a great idea.....I do have aol in messenger...as dagrund12......Love to talk to anyone.......Diana

Dave, I'm mostly ambivalent about it but I think that maybe, if you keep this, you should give us the ability to turn it on and off like AOL does. (We don't ask to much of you now, do we??!!) I was glad I could keep my name turned off except for a select few people. I'm also on DSL and cable modem, so I guess I'm online 24/7 anyway unless I shut my computers down entirely. Thanks for everything you do for us- Stacey

For those of us who are "logged on" 24/7 with cable modems, ISDN, DSL, etc. - remember it only shows you as "online" here if you have accessed an area of DG in the last 10 minutes. So you won't look like a "gasbag" unless you really are one (spoken by a wanna-be gasbag, LOL!)

I never log out, I have a short cut on my desk top and all I have to do is click on it to get here so I guess I will be here 24/7 like Floridian. I don't think it is something I will use on a regular basis, but it is an interesting idea.
Darlene

I wouldn't say hate,dislike would be better chose for me,but that wasn't one of the choices so had to choose 'hate'. I do not like other people know my comin's or goin's or what I do or don't do. I would like to feel that I can come and go whenever I feel like it without everyone knowing about it. Yes, I am a private person,but I like it that way and that is who I am.Except me for who I am or not, that Is Your decision,as this is my decision.
I just feel, that once you are signed onto Dave's Garden,you are already among friends. Hiding,I'm not hiding,I post when I want to, to what I want to,any time I want to. I don't need to see a list with everyone's name on 'the who's on line' in order to post or not to post. By reading the time of everyone's post,you already know who is on line so what good is the list? You still can't communicate with each other or anything so why have it,put to take up space.

Hi Diana.. Added you to my buddie list... MollyBee blink me and will add you too.. This could be really fun!!! Hope we get more.

ditto diana and mollybee
my handle is: simplybitchin
dori

Thanks for the answer Dave' Sis'

I voted hate it. I really don't care one way ot the other but I realize that many folks like to lurk in the background and think they should be able to do so annomously if they wish. For me it makes no difference since I am usually here somewhere!

Don't care for it!

Well, we're pretty evenly split right down the middle.

Some folks have suggested making is a preference option to "hide" from this list. But, is that enough? Does that solve the problem for people who don't know about it?

Will this feature scare off newbies who may not have had the benefit of having read this thread? I know a lot of folks don't poke around in the preferences much, and they may just get scared off too quickly.

Thoughts?

Dave

although not aware of the presence of 'Online Feature', i opted NO! my personal thought would be to segregate some member from certain group of regular or older membership. a forum is a forum is a forum! from what i understand of the word FORUM - a public meeting place for 'open' discussion/s. if the online feature is to stay, am afraid groups of member/s will confine themselves to those only 'known' to them, therefore isolating others. true i am a newbie here, but i could not find it in my heart to isolate anyone if i have the answer to their inquiry. just my 2 cents worth. this is a FREE country where everyone is entitled to express their personal view [within reasons of course], post question/s they do not have answer for.

ma vie rosé

I'm ambivalent, too: I love seeing who's online, but it's torture if I can't just go chat with 'em! :o) I don't have AOL/AIM or Yahoo start up with the computer because I don't want any extra memory drain if I'm not using them...And if others are like me, they forget to open 'em!

Hee, hee...Keeps us honest, doesn't it? We can't post a message and say we're heading out to do XYZ if we're still hangin' out here an hour later, right? ;o)

MaVieRose, Could you clarify what you meant in your above post? I don't understand. The online feature shows who has been online anywhere at DG within the last 10 minutes. It doesn't include or exclude anyone from forums or anything like that. I don't understand what you mean, and I'd like to. Could you please clarify what your concerns are? Thanks!

:o) Kimberley

I voted hate it, but really don't care. I'm not on any IM right now, and have gotten too slow for it any way. I guess it really doesn't matter one way or the other...

MaVieRose
All the 'on line' feature is, you can click on that, and it will show you who is all on Dave's Garden at that time. It just shows everyone's gardening name is all, on who ever is in the garden,making posts or just lurking and reading. Nothing more than that.From my point of view,I really don't care who is on and who isn't.I go about and do my own thing without wondering who is on and who isn't.It isn't small groups getting together and doing their own thing. It's like when you open a phone book and see all the names and that is it.

well, i must say, although i voted "love it," i am not sure i understand the point of "who's online"

other than letting you know that someone spends as much time on the internet as you do, it doesn't seem to have any real function. so i would say i change my vote from "love it" to "hate it."

but my vote for dave's garden? no question -- Love It!

It really doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I personally don't mind if people know that I'm on, but I think that everyone should have the choice as to whether their status is shown or not.
Cindy

hi Kimberley,

immediately after i posted above response, i tried to look for the online feature. i finally found it.

what i was referring to my comment was... if in the event some member/s see who is online, there might be a personal preference on their part only to respond to those posted by members they are familiar with. if that would be the case, other questions posted would be left alone and not responded at all.

it does not make no difference whether we are newbie or experienced gardeners, everyone do encounter problem/s as we toil in our own private gardens. life is stressful enough, posting a question here on DG, i believe once responded to will make it easier for the person seeking answer to their daunting question. therefore, if not too assuming on my part, my choice would be not to isolate anyone. i hope i have answered ur question.

ma vie rosé

Thank You Coco :D.

ma vie rosé

I am somewhere in between. I think it's cool but there are times I prefer to lurk. That is what I like about AOL instant messenger, I don't mind giving my AIM name howie6267
but I can choose not to be logged in when I want to. Not trying to hide just don't want to talk sometimes. In this case it does not really matter except for the times when the chat room is open. If you don't want to talk that night but people see you on they may wonder why your not in there chating. So because of this I voted hate it.

I personally don't care one way or the other, but after reading other people's opinion, I changed my vote to "hate it" (although 'hate' is kinda of a strong word for my basic apathy ;-) I decided to vote in favor of the folks who preferred their privacy.

Dave, could you not set this up on our preferences page as to whether we turn it on or not? That way new people on the site will know about it right away. I am often researching while I'm online and hate instant messages that pop up on my screen. Other times, IM is great. That's why I feel an ability to turn it off would be beneficial and if this is not leading to IM than why does anyone need to know who is on line? As several have said you can tell from posts who is here.

I hadn't even observed its presence until you brought it to my attention! So much for my alertness level.
I think it's neat, considering how many folks here love to chat.
I was a day sleeper for many years and learned that my friends understood when I turned the bell off, didn't answer the phone or door. When I feel isolationist, I just note "unavailable" on the IM.
I don't think it chases new people away.

I voted against, I don't hate it but I've had problems with another forum and being chased out of a screenname, if they had the capability of knowing when I was online I dread to think what else they may have hounded me with.

I'm on AOL and I have the IM but there are few who can contact me online as it can get a bit out of hand when 3 or more decide they want to talk to you. If they want to chat they can email me and if I'm about I can turn the IM back on.

I'm not hiding, I just like to have a little bit of a safety net. After all I am in my own home and I'm entitled to some privacy as are we all.

Okay, maybe somebody can explain this to me, since some of my best DG friends are lurkers ;0)

I know the definition of "lurk" has changed with technology. In fact I looked it up, and the most succinct definition I came upon was this:

"To visit an online discussion and read other people's postings without contributing any comments of one’s own. Lurking is a good way for a beginner to get familiar with a newsgroup or forum."

No problem. But when I hear the term, I still think of it as the "old" definition, which I found as:
lurk (lûrk) intr.v. lurked, lurk·ing, lurks
1. To lie in wait, as in ambush.
2. To move furtively; sneak.
3. To exist unobserved or unsuspected.

Now, I guess I think of DG as a public place, like a little community, or maybe my favorite bookstore. If I go into the bookstore, I can choose to sit quietly in a corner and observe people coming and going, or browse a book and not speak to another soul - but is that lurking? By the new definition, I would say it is.

And I think it's different than what some folks are asking to be able to do, which is to remain invisible (back to the old definition.) To continue my bookstore analogy, if somebody looks over to where I'm sitting, they're going to see me.

And that's how I think of the "who's online" feature - it lets me glance around the bookstore and see who else is in here. It really doesn't tell me how frequently they are in here, or what they're doing, nor does it invite me to strike up a conversation with them. It just lets me "see" them while I'm in here, too.

Yes, there is a question in all of this, and it is: what's so bad about being able to glance around the bookstore and see each other?

And now I'll beg for a "count to three" head start before you get out the tar and feathers and come after me :)

I TOTALLY AGREE with you go vols!! 100%!!
Maybe it could be fixed to where you are seen as online, but maybe a star or something beside your name to indicate that you do not want to be disturbed?
Don't worry Vols, if they get after you with the tar, because it's meee that they really want to tar and feather...because this was my idea! I guess I have really opened up a hugh can of worms haven't I? But I am still all for it!!

I'm opposed to it - I keep the buddy list and IM turned off on my AOL and Netscape. I welcome emails, just don't like the IM thing. What's so darned important that can't wait to get an email reply? Would also prefer to be able to visit DG a few times during my work day without "being seen" ... drop in, read a few threads, then back to work.

(*~*)

I think one should have the ability to click his/her presence on or off as desired. Would that not satisfy everyone?